NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - How to Combat BoPwashing - Comments

re: trademarking?

Derek Newberry — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:51:28 -0500

A good point, Jon - one that has not been lost on people like Ted London and enterprise development organizations looking to measure these impacts. As important as coming up with a set of reasonable metrics to measure BoP impacts is making those metrics a recognized standard, so that investors and consumers have comparable, objective assessments of different companies. BoP impact assessment metrics will not realize their full value if they do not become widely used standards in the private sector.

Unfortunately, this standard has yet to be established, but as I mention in the posting above, various actors are working on devising a baseline methodology.

Trademarking?

Jon Camfield — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:57:59 -0500

Why not take a page from the Fair Trade movement, establish some M&E guidelines, and create a (trademarked) logo/certification program for BoP projects?

"What's Up with the Bottom of the Pyramid?"

LaurenS — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:53:20 -0500

"What's Up with the Bottom of the Pyramid?" and Greenwashing - these are topics that WorldofGood.com are all over! Members can post blogs, take polls, host discussions, and read original articles - Check out this awesome Blog post by Cynthia Casas, Global Partnerships Director at World Pulse Media:

http://tinyurl.com/yozult

Also - this is a great blog about good ole' Greenwashing, by Green Options Media on the Community:

http://tinyurl.com/yptjrm

WorldofGood.com - your new people-positive online Community!

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How to Combat BoPwashing

Derek Newberry — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:38:35 -0500

Let's face it, this BoP movement has picked up speed since the early days of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. We're getting to a point where we can really glimpse a world, a development space, where the term BoP has arrived in the mainstream, in the media and in business plans of entrepreneurs.

A sure tell tale sign is when consultancies like Triple Value emerge that explicitly use the language of the BoP and advise major corporations on tapping into this market.

So as this mainstreaming occurs, it's valuable to draw lessons from similar experiences early on in the environmental movement within the private sector. Greenwashing, the act of promoting a company image of sustainability without creating real change in daily activities and operations, is now a commonplace idea. As the term BoP infiltrates boardrooms and ad agencies, could we also see a trend of "BoPwashing"?

To preemptively answer critics that might worry about the prospect of BoP business models flourishing that are all PR and no social impact, a few initiatives have sprung up that seek to verifiably measure how much a given business or project actually benefits the BoP.

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